Using a browser today can be as risky as it is rewarding. Browser security has been in the headlines in recent years, and browser makers a working to improve their offerings. Here is a list of the best browsers to use based on their blend of security, features, and web page viewing support.

The Top Browsers

FireFox 1.5

FireFox offers timely security support, good features and excellent web page viewing. And it available of Window, Mac OSX and a plethora of other platforms. FireFox is the industry leader in new features and page viewing. We have used FireFox for a long time and we suggest you try it out. A 2.0 release with new features should be shipping soon.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 is a much more secure and featured web browser with numerous improvements. Although it's currently in nearing completion as of the time of writing, it's a significant upgrade in all aspects over IE 6.0. If you don't get the beta Microsoft will send it to you via Windows Update when it's ready. If you use Windows you'll want this free upgrade when it ships. A special enhanced security version will ship with Windows Vista in 2007.

The Safari web browser ships as a part of Mac OS X 10.4. A solid browser with security support from Apple and easy to use features, Safari web page viewing is not strong as FireFox or IE 7. We recommend that Mac OS X keep a copy of FireFox on hand in case they have trouble with pages. That said, Safari is consistently being improved by Apple and is regarded as one of the browsers that most web developers target along with FireFox and Internet Explorer for Windows.

Other Notable Browsers

Opera 9

A very fast browser with a long track record is most notable for it's feature set. Opera 9 is available on Windows, Mac, and other platforms. We recommend you give it a try if you are one that likes to try out new software.